The Devil Is a Gentleman Read Free

straight into the heart. He stopped, looking down at himself. He was a foot from me and he could have reached out and grabbed me if he wanted to. But he seemed confused now. He looked at me as if he couldn’t fathom why I’d shot him. He looked at my face and his eyes went back to dull blue. His features slumped back to normal. His teeth crawled back to their natural length. Then his confusion turned to fear.
    “What have I done?” he said. “I’m sorry.” He took a step back, looking down at the red stains spreading on his shirt. He touched himself where the blood was coming from. It looked strange, though. It appeared to be steaming. He looked back at me. “Why doesn’t it hurt?” he said. There was the distant wail of a police siren and Bradley started. He sniffed the air. His eyes darkened slightly, then went back to normal again. He seemed to be fighting the transformation. The blood was bubbling out where I’d shot him like it was boiling. He suddenly turned and ran, his motions a blur. He stopped to open the door, coming back into focus, and looked back at me. “I’m sorry,” he said again. And was gone.

Chapter 2

    To say I was relieved to see the Deep Blue Sea wedged in its usual spot — between two abandoned warehouses — was an understatement. After the police had finished asking all their questions about Bradley, and taken my Makarov away to run the forensics, I’d driven down to the riverfront warehouses my father used to frequent. I had been coming here every day for a month in hope of finally talking to Sam. It had been so long. But this time, I knew the bar would finally be there. And it was. Flashing red neon blazed the words Deep Blue Sea against the shabby brick building that was just as liable to disappear entirely as to be solid. But it was solid. And it was the only place I had ever seen Sam.
    He was sitting on a stool and looked pointedly at his watch when I entered.
    “You are quite late,” he said, when I sat down next to him.
    I gave him a glare. “Late? I’ve been trying to talk to you for weeks. Your stupid bar has been gone since the last time I saw you.”
    Sam smiled. “I’ve missed you, Niki,” he said. I heard a groan and saw Janis slide awkwardly off her stool. She stamped out her cigarette and rolled her eyes behind her thick glasses. She tottered behind the bar and noisily pulled glasses out, sloshing liquid from bottles into them. “Janis missed you too,” he said, hiding a smile behind his tinkling glass.
    “I can see that,” I said. “Where’ve you been?”
    He smiled again. When we had first met, I thought Sam was creepy. He had too many teeth when he smiled, there was something about him that wasn’t quite right. But the more I saw of him, the more I liked him. I knew that he had his own agenda, that he probably wasn’t the least interested in me. But I felt drawn to him. He looked at me curiously, and I remembered his eyes. I could never tell what color they were. They were so dark they were like a void, yet they still seemed to shift, like smoke or dark clouds. I felt sucked in every time I tried looking at them. I looked at his face, boyish but for a certain somber quality. He moved gracefully, his motions smooth and long.
    “Something’s happened,” I said.
    “I can see that,” said Sam, setting down his glass. “You don’t look well.”
    “That happens when I get attacked by Abnormal congressmen.”
    Sam raised his eyebrows questioningly.
    “Frank Bradley.”
    He shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t follow politics. Not yours, anyway.”
    “He’s the bastard that started it all,” I said. “Abnormals, the Registry, he’s the poster child for New Government.” I sipped my whiskey. It was calming my nerves. “He was strange. Not like any Abby I’ve ever seen. He babbled on about angels and blood. Then he changed right in front of me, like a werewolf or a vampire.”
    “No such thing,” said Sam.
    “Still,” I said.